The present invention relates to a carrier sheet form having an integrated card having opposed plasticized surfaces and preferably, but not exclusively, a magnetic strip card, and the method of manufacture and use.
It is known to provide carrier sheets having detachable cards printed thereon with the contour of the card being die cut and retained in the sheet or form by friction or uncut regions about the card. As discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,686 is it also known to manufacture identification cards produced as embossed plastic cards and plain paper cards. However, embossed cards are relatively expensive to make, while plain paper cards are inexpensive. The problem with paper cards is that they are not long lasting and do not convey a polished image on their outer surface. The image can be chipped off paper fibers and these cards are not water resistant.
To make plastic cards, it is necessary to utilize plastic-coated paper and these are produced on an impact printer and the printing has relatively poor quality and are unable to form quality bar codes and graphics on such cards. Plastic sheets are also environmentally wasteful as most of the sheet is not utilized after the card is detached and they are also costly and produce a recycling problem. Often, these cards also fall off the carrier sheets. Paper-handling machines and printers have problems with handling sheets of uneven thickness, such as sheets carrying cards and portions thereof and often will jam in the machine resulting in costly maintenance and destruction of the paper stock. This is much more serious if the printing consists of personalized information as this would require resetting the machine and the computer and analyzing the printed forms to determine which have to be destroyed. In summary, previous attempts have been made using laser or ionographic printers and have failed to produce acceptable carrier sheets bearing plastic die cut identification cards.
In an attempt to remedy this problem, U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,686 discloses a method and a sheet stock wherein the layer of printable plastic is adhered to a portion of an upper surface of a sheet and a second layer of paper or plastic is adhered over the remainder portion of the upper surface of the sheet, whereby the sheet is of substantially uniform thickness and can be handled in a printing process of the laser type, ionographic or ink jet type. However, this method is costly due to the fact that another sheet needs to be adhered to the large remaining portion of the carrier sheet.
It is a feature of the present invention to provide a carrier sheet with an integrated printed card having opposed plasticized surfaces and preferably, but not exclusively, a magnetic strip card, and which substantially overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a method of forming a carrier sheet having an integrated detachable magnetic strip card having opposed plasticized surfaces and which substantially overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a novel method of booking a travel event using a carrier sheet with an integrated magnetic strip card having a user code encoded on the magnetic strip and wherein the carrier sheet contains personal printed information.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a carrier sheet having an integrated magnetic strip card formed by two plasticized panels containing printed information and a magnetic strip and an adhesive backing wherein when said panels are detached from said sheets and folded on a straight interconnecting fold line, said panels are juxtaposed at their rear surface and glued together, whereby said card is plasticized on the front and rear surface thereof.
According to the above features, from a broad aspect, the present invention provides a carrier sheet with an integrated card. The carrier sheet has printed information thereon. The printed information contains in part card information printed at a predetermined location on a front face of the carrier sheet in a card region of the sheet and oriented to be disposed on an outer surface of a front and a rear card panel of a card to be formed. A siliconized liner patch, containing a pressure-sensitive adhesive surface, is laminated on a back surface of the carrier sheet and disposed to extend over the card region. A face patch of clear poly material is immovably secured over the card region on the front face of the carrier sheet. A die cut delineates the front and rear panels disposed adjacent one another and extends through the face patch and carrier sheet. The die cut card panels are retained in the carrier sheet by the pressure-sensitive adhesive of the siliconized liner patch. A straight fold line is formed in the face patch to form a fold line between the front and rear card panels. The card is formable by peeling off the front and rear card panels from the carrier sheet with the pressure-sensitive adhesive releasing from the siliconized liner patch whereby the adhesive now lies on a back face of the front and rear card panels. The panels are folded along the straight fold line to secure the back face of the panels containing the adhesive together.
According to a further broad aspect of the present invention, there is a provided a method of forming a carrier sheet having an integrated detachable card. The method comprises the steps of printing a carrier sheet with information containing in part card information printed at a predetermined location on the front face of the carrier sheet in a card region of the carrier sheet and oriented to be disposed on an outer surface of the front and a rear card panel of a magnetic strip card to be formed. A siliconized liner patch, containing a pressure-sensitive adhesive surface, is applied on a back surface of the carrier sheet and attached by said adhesive to extend over the card region. A face patch of clear poly material containing a magnetic strip is secured over the card region on the front face of the carrier sheet. The front and rear card panels are then die cut about their peripheries. The die cut extends through the face patch and the carrier sheet, whereby the die cut card panels are adjacent one another and solely retained in the carrier sheet by the pressure-sensitive adhesive on the siliconized liner patch on the back surface of the carrier sheet. When detached, the panels are folded along a straight fold line which is formed in the face patch between the adjacent front and rear card panels, whereby to permit the adjacent card panels to be folded and stuck together on their back faces along the fold line when adjacent die cut card panels are pulled off the silicone liner patch and carry the pressure-sensitive adhesive on their back surface.
According to a still further broad aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of booking a travel event comprising receiving a customer identity and a personal event request. The customer identity information and an event schedule information customized to the request is stored in a computer. A carrier sheet containing an integral magnetic strip card is automatically addressed to the customer and the magnetic strip card is encoded with a user code to access the stored information at an event location. The carrier sheet with the integral magnetic strip card which has been encoded is then forwarded to the customer who detaches the card. The customer enters the card in a magnetic strip card reader at the event location whereby the stored information is automatically accessed by identifying the user code to record the arrival of the customer at the event location and automatically print additional personalized information that may be available to the customer only at the event location for use by the customer.